SAN DIEGO – Qualcomm Inc. said Wednesday that a federal judge’s order to stop selling chips for cell phones that infringe on rival Broadcom Inc.’s patents will have an immediate impact on its business.

U.S. District Judge James Selna of Santa Ana ruled Monday that Qualcomm cannot sell chips that rely on three Broadcom patents, the latest development in a number of legal disputes between the two companies. The judge allowed Qualcomm to continue selling some chips until the end of January 2009 if it pays royalties.

The judge ordered an immediate ban on a digital-video patent used for cell phones that run on wide-band CDMA, or WCDMA technology, which is growing fast in Europe. Qualcomm said its customers tested a WCDMA chip that sidesteps the Broadcom patent and that it should be commercially available by the end of March.

Qualcomm, based in San Diego, said in a news release that the ruling will have “an immediate, short-term impact” on handset makers that use WCDMA technology. It did not elaborate on the potential financial impact.

It also said the company was working on new chips that sidestep the other two Broadcom patents.

A jury found in May that Qualcomm violated patents on Broadcom technology to help cell phones process video and walkie-talkie conversations and hand off calls between different networks.

Qualcomm is the world’s second-largest chip supplier for cell phones after Texas Instruments Inc., while Irvine-based Broadcom is a relative newcomer to the cell-phone business.